


Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

by hawk_soaring



Category: NCIS
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-12
Updated: 2013-05-12
Packaged: 2017-12-11 17:10:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/801110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawk_soaring/pseuds/hawk_soaring
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abby learns something that she doesn’t like – and sets out to make it not so.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Title: Breaking Up Is Hard To Do  
Author: hawk_soaring  
Fandom: NCIS  
Pairing: Gibbs/ DiNozzo  
Rating: FRM  
Summary: Abby learns something that she doesn’t like – and sets out to make it not so.  


A/N: This is a Moonridge fic written for MC23, who wanted: An NCIS h/c/angst slash. Gibbs and DiNozzo have just started a relationship, but Abby isn't happy. Because of Tony's 'love 'em and leave 'em' reputation, she's worried he will do the same thing to Gibbs. So she tries a number of ways to break them up, some nearly succeed, but there is a happy ending. (3,185 words)

~*~*~

“What do you mean; you’re _going out_ with Gibbs?”

Tony leaned back into the arm of the sofa, surprised by Abby’s vehemence at his blushing confession. He hadn’t meant to spill it to her but she’d been so insistent – and he’d had five or, make that, almost six beers already tonight. It was their movie night and Abby had asked who he was seeing. Damn, if he hadn’t been drinking he never would have confessed that he had a date with Gibbs on Saturday night. And, double damn, Gibbs just might kill him when he found out that Tony had spilled the beans to Abby.

Not that either of them were ashamed of their blossoming relationship, but they hadn’t wanted to put any pressure on it yet and outing themselves to their coworkers wasn’t something they were comfortable with at this point. But here he was, hanging out with a friend, who also happened to be a coworker, and he blabbed. Couldn’t keep his mouth shut for even one evening. Gibbs was going to kill him when he found out – and he would, after all, this was Abby.

“A-Abs?” Tony stammered. “It’s no big deal – really. We’re just going out to dinner and—“

“And?” she snapped.

“And a movie,” Tony finished lamely, his mind awhirl with confusion at her depth of emotion. Surely she wasn’t interested? He snorted silently. Nah, if anything Abby thought of Gibbs as more of a father figure.

“Dinner? _And_ a movie?” she said slowly and deliberately.

Tony nodded. “Yeah,” he said, running a hand through his hair nervously. “Like I said, Abs. It’s no big deal.”

Tony squeaked when suddenly his lap was full of angry Goth her thighs straddling his and her hands pressing firmly on his shoulders, pressing him against the back of the sofa.

“No big deal?” Abby said angrily. “No big deal? This is Gibbs we’re talking about, Tony, and I won’t have you stringing him along and then dumping him like you do everyone else.”

Tony frowned. “Like I do – what?”

Abby huffed out a put-upon sigh. “Like you don’t know, Mr. Love ‘em and Leave ‘em.” She leaned forward. “Let me tell you something, Tony. Do – not – hurt him.” Each word was punctuated but a hard jab to his chest, making him wince. “Do you understand?”

All Tony could do was nod. He had no intention of hurting Gibbs. Hell, he’d worshipped the man since before he’d been hired at NCIS and there was no way he was going to let him get away. No, his lothario days were over.

As the door slammed shut behind Abby, Tony realized the movie was still playing and the popcorn bowl was still mostly full. They had never not finished a movie before. That more than anything else told Tony just how upset Abby was. Damn, he was gong to have to fill Jethro in on what had happened. He just hoped Jethro could forgive him his stupidity. He’d hate to have Abby proven correct after all his protesting.

~*~*~

Tony and Gibbs had just finished ordering their dinners when Abby walked into the restaurant. They were eating at one of Gibbs’ favorite Italian restaurants – Vespucci’s. Gibbs had raved about the restaurant in the past so going there was something Tony had long wanted to do. As Tony smiled up at the waiter, he happened to glance toward the front entrance.

He groaned. “B-Gibbs?” Tony said softly, turning toward Gibbs.

Gibbs scowled. “What is it, Tony?”

“It’s Abby – and McProbie,” Tony said, risking another glance toward the door.

Gibbs turned and stared for a moment. “Damn,” he said. “Did you tell her where we would be?”

“No way!” Tony said. “I didn’t say anything. Besides, you didn’t tell me where we were going – exactly. Although I kind of figured we’d wind up here.”

“Why is that?” Jethro asked.

Tony grinned. “Because you raved about this place a few weeks ago. I was actually hoping you’d choose this place.”

Gibbs sighed.

“Gibbs! Tony!”

Tony closed his eyes briefly before looking up again. “Hey Abby – McProbie.” Tony thought McGee looked decidedly uncomfortable standing beside their table. “What brings you here?”

McGee blanched. “Well, Abby s-said that she wanted to try this place out. I – we didn’t know you t-two would be here.”

Tony looked at Gibbs, who was staring at Abby – glowering actually.

“Mind if we join you?” Abby said, seemingly unaware of Gibbs’ ire.

Before he knew it, chairs were being pushed up to the table, Abby and Tim insinuating themselves between Gibbs and Tony so the two men were left staring at each other over the table. Tony rolled his eyes as Abby began expounding on the latest water-cooler gossip. After a minute, Tony thought he heard a soft growl. The look on Gibbs face confirmed the point and Tony smiled, just a small quirk of his lips that was gone when he felt the sharp kick to his shins. When he looked up again, Gibbs was the one smiling.

~*~*~

“Sorry we missed the movie, B – Jethro,” Tony said, taking a sip of his coffee, wincing when the scalding liquid burned his tongue.

“Nothing to apologize for, Tony. Not your fault.”

Tony sighed softly as he leaned one hip against the building. “No – it was Abby’s fault – and McProbie’s. I can’t believe she actually went as far as to ruin our date. I thought warning me off would have been enough.”

Gibbs reached out and brushed his knuckles over Tony’s jaw. “Good night, Tony. I’ll see you at work.”

Tony nodded. “Night Jethro. You sure you don’t want to –?” He gestured inside with his head.

Gibbs smiled and shook his head. “Not a good idea.”

“Yeah, it being a school night and all,” Tony quipped easily.

Gibbs cuffed the back of Tony’s head, gentling the touch and running his fingers through Tony’s hair. Tony pressed into the touch, sighing softly when Gibbs pulled his hand away.

Gibbs seemed on the verge to say something and then he sighed. “Night, Tony.”

“Yeah,” Tony said softly. “Night.”

Tony watched Jethro walk away before opening the door to his building and going inside. First chance, he was going to slap some sense into one Abigail Sciuto and Timothy McGee.

~*~*~

Abby plead innocence and made herself scarce the next day at work, her impish grin at Tony’s confession of having missed the movie and Jethro walking him to his door setting Tony’s teeth on edge. He was actually glad to not have Abby around to chat with for once, especially since she obviously didn’t feel that she could trust him. Lack of trust really tended to put a damper on supposed friendships.

Over the next few days, Tony felt like he was under a microscope. McGee questioned him daily about his ‘relationship’ with Gibbs, questions that were almost too pat. He finally had to say something.

“So, McGee.”

“Yeah, Tony?” Tim said, looking up at Tony, who was leaning against Tim’s desk. He frowned. “What do you want?”

“Who’s feeding you your lines? It wouldn’t be Abby by any chance, would it?”

Tim opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before sighing loudly and shaking his head. “I don’t know what you mean,” he protested lamely.

Tony snorted. “Right, McGee. You tell Abby that there is no way I’m going to tell you where Gibbs and I are going on our next date. We see enough of each other at work. I don’t need a chaperone when I’m out.”

McGee stared up at Tony, tipping back in his chair a little and crossing his arms over his chest. “So you are going out with Gibbs again,” he said with a smirk.

Tony stood, nudging Tim’s chair leg as he turned away. He smiled when he heard Tim squawk as his chair tipped backwards, overbalancing him and almost sending him tumbling. Tony heard the front chair legs hit the floor hard as Tim righted the chair. “Watch yourself, Probie,” Tony said as he sat at his own desk. “You wouldn’t want to get hurt doing something childish.”

~*~*~

They were three miles into their hike when first Jethro’s and then Tony’s phone rang, the sound jarringly loud in the quiet of the dense woods. Looking down at the display, Tony noted ‘NCIS’ on the caller ID display. As he frowned down at his phone, Jethro swore softly.

“We’re not supposed to be on call this weekend,” Tony said as he looked at Jethro.

Jethro was just opening his phone, shooting Tony a dark look as he snapped, “Gibbs.”

Tony took the opportunity to answer his own call, his good mood evaporating when he was told that their team was being called in. When he dared to look up, Jethro’s countenance was thunderous.

“Come on, Tony,” Jethro growled as he headed back the way they had come. “We caught a case.”

“But – I thought we weren’t on call this weekend,” Tony groused.

“Yeah – me too, but apparently, we’re the first team on the list now so we have to go.” Gibbs kept walking and Tony broke into a jog to catch up.

~*~*~

Tony knew that Jethro could be intimidating but, when Jethro walked into NCIS and stared down the security officer at the front desk, his knees grew weak. Jethro oozed righteous anger and Tony’s heart pounded at the sight of him dressing down the man at the desk. When Mark pulled the list out and showed it to Jethro, Tony peered over Jethro’s shoulder and bit back a sigh. Gibbs’ name was at the top of the list; their team was number one on the call schedule. But Tony was damned sure the list hadn’t looked like that when he and Jethro had left for the weekend.

Jethro headed for the elevator, Tony following close behind. One the doors closed behind them, Jethro turned to him and growled, “Someone fucked with the schedule and when I find out who it was, I’m going to make sure they wish they were never born.”

Tony nodded mutely. He wouldn’t want to be in that person’s shoes when Jethro found them. If his mood was anything to go by, the confrontation wasn’t gong to be pretty.

Tony knew he had the original email in his inbox so, while they were waiting for McGee and Ziva to get in, he pulled it up. Sure enough, their team was three weeks out from having to cover a weekend. Someone had altered the schedule and, since the file came through as a PDF it had to be someone with access. As Tony stared at the screen, he suddenly realized what had probably happened. He could feel the blood rush from his face and knew, if Jethro looked at him, he would know something was up. Getting to his feet, he ducked his head and headed out of the bullpen.

“Going somewhere, Tony?” Jethro asked.

“Bathroom, Boss,” he answered easily. “Be right back.” As he turned the corner, he heard the elevator bell ring, signaling it’s arrival on the floor. McGee and Ziva were probably there. Ducking into the bathroom, he quickly splashed cold water on his face and stared into the mirror. After a moment he closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths.

“Let’s go, DiNozzo!”

Tony sighed and headed out to catch up with his team. He’d deal with what he suspected later.

~*~*~

The case was a bust and they were back at NCIS within two hours. The day, however, was shot. Jethro was finishing up his reports when Tony decided to take a little walk.

“Why do you think I had anything to do with it? It’s not like it didn’t affect me as well, Tony.”

Maybe it was her tone of voice or maybe it was her refusal to look him in the eye, but Tony was convinced that Abby had altered the schedule when she couldn’t ascertain where Tony and Jethro were going on their “date”. Messing with the schedule, however, was extreme, even for Abby.

“Don’t do this, Abby,” Tony said softly.

Abby shrugged, still refusing to meet his gaze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied flippantly.

“I’m in love with Jethro – have been for a long time. And I think he feels the same about me – or could, if given half a chance to explore his feelings. I’m not walking away from this one, Abby – and don’t you think he deserves to be happy again?”

Tony waited for just a moment, hoping that Abby would talk to him but, when his declaration was met with only silence, Tony sighed. “I’m not giving up on him so, if you’re going to persist in trying to break us up, you’re going to have a fight on your hands – one you can’t possibly win. Don’t throw away your relationship with Gibbs over this, Abby.” What he didn’t say was that she had already thrown their friendship away and that was something that would never be the same again. Knowing that Abby didn’t trust him had changed the way he thought about her and, without trust, there could be no friendship. Turning on his heel, Tony walked out of the lab and back up to the bullpen.

~*~*~

Tony’s cell phone rang – a tinny blast of Welcome to the Jungle.

Tony groaned softly as he reached for his phone. “It’s Abby.”

Jethro growled softly. “Can’t be work,” he said easily. “She didn’t call me first.”

Tony sighed and rolled over onto his back, one hand resting on his stomach. “That’s the third time she’s called tonight,” he said as the phone stopped ringing. “What is she so afraid of?”

Jethro snorted softly. “Abby? Nothing that a little time won’t disprove.”

“Great,” Tony said as he rolled up onto one side again, one arm under his head, the other thrown over Jethro’s hip. “When is she ever going to learn that this is real?”

Jethro smiled, that brilliant smile that never failed to get Tony’s blood boiling and he couldn’t help but lean forward those scant few inches, molding his body snug against Jethro’s as he pressed his lips to his lover’s. He tentatively nibbled at Jethro’s lips, silently seeking entrance.

Tony’s phone rang again and he sighed against Jethro’s lips, pulling away to lean his forehead against the other man’s. “Fuck,” he swore softly.

Jethro chuckled humorlessly. “Not likely at this rate.”

“Yeah, and I think that’s what the scientist spawn of Satan is hoping for,” Tony groused as he moved, winding up with his head resting on Jethro’s shoulder.

~*~*~

Tony was sitting at his desk, laboriously typing up a case report, when someone cleared their throat. Looking up, Tony saw Abby standing in front of his desk, hands on her hips, scowling down at him. “Kinda busy here, Abs,” Tony said, looking down again and starting to type.

After a couple of minutes, Tony realized that Abby wasn’t going to just walk away. The Goth was nothing if not stubborn – but then so was he. Maybe that was what had drawn them together in the first place. Too bad Abby had decided that their friendship wasn’t important to her any longer. He missed their movie nights and their clubbing nights and, hell, he missed being able to walk down to the lab and just talk. With a sigh, Tony looked up again, surprised to see a hint of doubt in Abby’s dark eyes as she nibbled on her lower lip.

“What is it?” Tony asked.

“I’m sorry,” Abby said softly, unable to maintain eye contact.

Tony frowned. “Excuse me?” he said sarcastically, folding his arms across his chest and looking up at her.

“I’m – sorry, Tony,” Abby repeated.

“And this changes what, exactly?”

Abby took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before she spoke again. “I’m sorry that I didn’t trust you, Tony. You’re good for Gibbs. He is happier than I’ve ever seen him – and I was wrong.” She knuckled tears out of her eyes and Tony held his breath as he waited for Abby to continue. “I was wrong to doubt you and I am sorry that I threw our friendship away so easily. I – I miss our movie nights,” she admitted softly. “I miss my friend.”

Tony took a deep breath. “I don’t know what to say, Abby. I don’t think I can just forget that you distrusted me so completely that you tried to make sure Jethro and I never had a complete date. You hurt me.”

Abby nodded and Tony saw tears flowing freely. He opened his mouth – to apologize? Not likely. In reality, he had no clue what to say to her now.

“Ready to go, Tony?”

Startled, Tony looked up quickly. “Jethro,” he said, a smile blossoming. He looked at Abby again and saw that she was quietly wiping the tears from her face.

“Tony?” It was Jethro again and, when Tony looked at his lover, Jethro shook his head.

“Yeah, I’m ready,” he said, gathering his belongings quickly.

“I’ll meet you in the car.”

Tony frowned, but nodded and walked away, heading to the stairwell that would lead him down to the parking garage. As he opened the door, he looked back over his shoulder to see Jethro giving Abby a hug. Abby was clinging to him and looked to be sobbing quietly. With a parting glance, Tony stepped through the door.

~*~*~

Tony looked up when the car door opened and Jethro slid into the driver’s seat. “Everything okay up there?” he asked.

Jethro nodded. “Yeah – everything’s okay.”

Tony bit his lip. “And Abby?” He was feeling a little guilty about shutting her out of his life. He *liked* Abby. He just didn’t think he could trust her right now.

Jethro reached over and squeezed Tony’s knee gently. “Abby will be fine. She is finally learning that there are consequences to her actions.”

Tony sighed. “I hate this, Jethro. I hate knowing that she is hurting – and I hate knowing that I can’t just go back to what we had – before.”

“It’s okay, Tony,” Jethro said softly. “You need time to heal from Abby’s betrayal and Abby needs time to realize that what she did was not okay.”

“And in the meantime?” Tony asked wearily, leaning his head back against the headrest and closing his eyes.

Jethro chuckled. “In the meantime, we go home.”

Home. Tony liked the sound of that.

END


End file.
